Seniors: Beware of 'new Medicare card' scheme

State officials are warning seniors to beware of identity theft after receiving reports of unsolicited callers falsely claiming they needed personal information in order to send them a "new" Medicare card.

The Florida Department of Elder Affairs said the suspicious callers said they were from the "Health and Welfare Deparment" and then asked for bank account numbers, birth dates or Medicare numbers. The agency said Medicare never calls unsolicitied and asks for such information over the phone.

Al Payne, who manages the Florida Attorney General's Seniors vs. Crime office in Delray Beach, said his program had similar reports from South Florida seniors within the past two weeks. "We just tell them to hang up," Payne said.

So far, Payne said no one who contacted him had fallen for the ploy.

South Florida is an I.D. theft hotbed, with 35,914 reports in 2012 from Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Seniors are particularly vulnerable, as their Medicare identifiers are tied to their Social Security numbers.

The "new Medicare card" scheme was used by con artists two years ago. Other common ploys: callers telling seniors they need bank account information to deposit their "Medicare refund" or claiming they have free medical supplies to give out.